Amur

Pada pagi keenam, kereta melaju melalui Timur Jauh Rusia. Taiga telah berubah karakter. Pohon-pohonnya kini adalah pinus Korea, abu Manchuria, dan ek Mongolia. Hutan terasa lebih dekat. Ini adalah hutan hujan sedang di Timur Jauh Rusia, salah satu hutan terbasah di dunia di luar daerah tropis.

On the sixth morning, the train was running through the Russian Far East. The taiga had changed character. The trees were now Korean pine, Manchurian ash, and Mongolian oak. The forest felt closer. This is the temperate rainforest of the Russian Far East, one of the wettest forests in the world outside the tropics.

Polly sendirian di kompartemen. Pavel telah turun di Ulan-Ude. Tentara itu pindah ke gerbong lain. Penghuni baru ranjang atas adalah seorang wanita kurus yang tidur hampir sepanjang hari.

Polly was alone in the compartment. Pavel had gotten off in Ulan-Ude. The soldier had moved to another carriage. The new occupant of the upper bunk was a thin woman who slept most of the day.

Sebuah kereta barang melintas dari arah berlawanan. Panjangnya hampir dua kilometer, membawa kayu gelondongan. Polly menghitung tiga puluh delapan gerbong datar sebelum berhenti.

A freight train passed in the opposite direction. It was nearly two kilometres long, carrying timber. Polly counted thirty-eight flatbeds before she stopped.

Kereta tiba di Khabarovsk pada pertengahan pagi. Khabarovsk terletak di Sungai Amur, sungai terpanjang kedelapan di dunia. Amur membentuk sebagian besar perbatasan antara Rusia dan Cina. Dari peron, Polly bisa melihat sungai melalui celah antara dua bangunan. Sungai itu lebar. Warnanya seperti teh kental. Di tepi seberang, melalui kabut, adalah Cina.

The train arrived at Khabarovsk in mid-morning. Khabarovsk sits on the Amur River, the eighth-longest river in the world. The Amur forms much of the border between Russia and China. From the platform, Polly could see the river through a gap between two buildings. It was wide. It was the colour of strong tea. On the far bank, through the haze, was China.

Polly melompat turun dan berjalan sepanjang kereta.

Polly hopped down and walked the length of the train.

Seekor bangau Timur Jauh Rusia berdiri di tepi rawa kecil dekat halaman stasiun. Tingginya hampir dua meter, hitam dan putih dengan merah di sekitar mata. Bangau Timur Jauh Rusia adalah salah satu bangau paling langka di dunia. Mungkin hanya tersisa tiga ribu, sebagian besar berkembang biak di lembah Amur.

A Russian Far East crane was standing at the edge of a small marsh near the station yards. Almost two metres tall, black and white with red around the eye. The Russian Far East crane is one of the rarest cranes in the world. Maybe three thousand left, breeding mostly in the Amur basin.

Polly memiringkan kepalanya ke arah bangau itu. Bangau itu memiringkan kepalanya kembali. Polly berjalan lebih dekat. Bangau itu tidak bergerak.

Polly tilted her head at it. The crane tilted its head back. Polly walked closer. The crane did not move.

Seorang kondektur meniup peluit. Polly melompat kembali ke kereta. Dia berbalik dan melihat bangau itu. Bangau itu masih melihat ke arahnya. Kemudian bangau itu mengangkat leher panjangnya dengan sangat perlahan dan berjalan, dengan langkah hati-hati, menjauh ke dalam rawa.

A conductor blew a whistle. Polly hopped back to the train. She turned and looked at the crane. The crane was still looking at her. Then it lifted its long neck very slowly and walked, in deliberate steps, away into the marsh.

Kereta meninggalkan Khabarovsk dan berbelok ke selatan. Samudra Pasifik sekarang kurang dari tujuh ratus kilometer jauhnya.

The train pulled out of Khabarovsk and turned south. The Pacific was less than seven hundred kilometres away now.